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KENTUCKY SOY GROUP FORMS PAC: The Kentucky Soybean Association haslaunched a political action committee. The group is a state affiliate of the American Soybean Association, and works on policy issues related to federal farm programs, transportation infrastructure, and biodiesel and sustainability initiatives. Debbie Ellis, executive director of the state group, said in an email the new PAC will “support Kentucky candidates with a commitment to soybean grower issues.” SoyPAC, the national group’s political action committee, has given $107,000 to federal candidates this cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org. Of those contributions, $76,500 has gone to Republicans, including $5,000 to Kentucky’s Rep. Ed Whitfield.

TAX RATES COALITION WOOS WYDEN: The business-backed Coalition for Fair Effective Tax Rates came out with a new letter Tuesday to Sen. Ron Wyden, the new Senate Finance Committee chairman, pushing him on tax reform. “Our coalition is comprised of all types and sizes of businesses — large and small, corporations and businesses that pay taxes through the individual rate system. More than 1,500,000 businesses are members through their trade associations. Our mission is one that we now know you share: The need to overhaul the broken income tax system in a way that narrows the significant disparities that exist between industries in effective tax rates, the amount that businesses actually pay in taxes.”

GOOD WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, where it’s been 50 years to the day since the Palestine Liberation Organization was founded. The original PLO Charter was issued on May 28, 1964 and called for the prohibition of Zionism. Send lobbying news, gossip, tips and scoops to btau@politico.com. And keep up with PI on Twitter by following @ByronTau or @PoliticoPI.

RENAL ASSOCIATION HOSTS FLY-IN: Nephrologists and kidney patients from across the country will be in Washington on Friday to participate in the Renal Physicians Association annual Capitol Hill Day. The fly-in — coordinated with the American Association of Kidney Patients — gives patients and doctors an audience with members of Congress and staff. They’ll be talking about issues like Medicare coverage for end-stage renal disease, expanded Medicare drug coverage, and other issues.

CALL YOUR OFFICE: SABRA: A very occasional feature about entities that don't have registered lobbyists but are in a Washington fight: Vox reported last week that Sabra Hummus is asking the Food and Drug Administration to tighten the definition of hummus to exclude products made with ingredients other than chickpeas and tahini. The result would be that products like black bean hummus, lentil hummus, red pepper hummus and edamame hummus could no longer be sold using the designation. According to the Senate lobbying database, Sabra has no registered lobbyists since at least 1999. Further, no one has ever lobbied on “hummus” in the same time period. Parent companies PepsiCo and Frito-Lay (a division of PepsiCo) do have lobbying firms. Another part-owner, Israeli company Strauss, does not appear to have registered lobbyists. Companies on the other side of the fight don’t seem to have lobbyists either. Here’s the Vox story on the fight: http://bit.ly/1k0Nlci A. Barton Hinkle thinks the whole thing is all very silly: http://bit.ly/RBhHW8

TECH INDUSTRY FUNDRAISING BITS: Via Morning Tech, tech donations are surging: Google, Twitter and Yahoo just keep rakin' in the campaign cash with the '14 midterms increasingly on the horizon. Google so far has raised $1.5 million this cycle, while spending $1.13 million, and it still sits on more than $1.4 million with months until the election, per new documents it filed with the FEC reflecting its spending until April 30. Twitter's coffers stand at a much tinier $20,000, and it still has yet to donate ahead of November, the first election for the company's PAC. And Yahoo has raised more than $111,000 in 2013 and 2014, its most since the 2004 cycle, the reports reflect. Overall, though, PACs in the computers/internet sector had given $3.4 million to candidates, based on late-April FEC data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

And in telecom:Comcast and AT&T certainly haven't slowed their spending, according to the new May docs. With its Time Warner Cable deal on the line, Comcast's PAC donated another $129,000 over the month of April, bringing its total election spend to more than $2.5 million. And as AT&T tries to buy DirecTV, a deal that wasn't announced in time to be reflected in the last FEC reports, AT&T's PAC already has donated $2.6 million this year.

DOWNTOWNERS HIT NATS PARK FOR CHARITY: Sens. Joe Manchin,Mike Lee and Cory Booker, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer will lead the honorary host committee of nearly 100 members of Congress for the sixth annual “Home Runs for Horton’s Kids” on June 10th at Nationals Park. Expected are more than 600 guests, including members of Congress, staffers and principals from leading government relations and public affairs offices. The event benefits Horton’s Kids, a nonprofit serving education, nutrition and other services to Anacostia children. The organizations’ board of directors includes a slew of downtowners: Allison Ramsen of Mobile Future, Erik Olson of Venn Strategies, Dan Walsh of Greenberg Traurig,Matt Gelman of Microsoft, Juleanna Glover of Teneo, Eric Hauser of AFL-CIO, Missy Edwards of Missy Edwards Strategies, Rick Axthelm of Alpha Natural Resources, Marc Lampkin of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and many others.

GOP FUNDRAISING FIRM LAUNCHES NEW TOOL: A leading GOP data management and fundraising firm, CMDI, has launched a new tool called “Spark” that can generate donation amounts for a donor based on past contributions. “With current online fundraising methods, campaigns are leaving money on the table,” said John Simms,CMDI founder, in a statement. “Spark optimizes the ‘ask’ for each donor so campaigns can get the highest yield from each supporter.” Much like President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign, the new tool will also allow donors to make “one-click” donations, which means they won’t have to re-enter their information every time they want to contribute.

ELSEWHERE IN THE INFLUENCE WORLD:

THE WOOING OF THE CBC: The Congressional Black Caucus has emerged as a major target for lobbyists and other influence-peddlers, reports Zach Carter and Ryan Grim in The New Republic: “The corporate world, by contrast, has been paying close attention. The CBC represents roughly 10 percent of the House and about a fifth of the Democratic minority. That alone makes it an attractive target for lobbyists. But two characteristics have helped it amass particular power. Its aura of moral credibility, earned during the Civil Rights era, can provide valuable progressive cover for controversial measures. And its tradition of voting as a bloc, forged in its early years to avoid marginalization, means that persuading the right CBC member can secure dozens of additional votes.” More here: http://bit.ly/1kfLVET

THE DSCC BUYS A HOUSE: Just for additional space, reports Bloomberg: “The DSCC’s April expenditures included a $50,000 deposit to the First American Title Insurance Company as part of its purchase of a building adjacent to the DSCC headquarters, close to the Supreme Court building northeast of the Capitol. The DSCC has rented part of the building, the Mott House, for the past 11 years, using the space for some office staff. The DSCC is buying the Mott House using a $5.1 million loan, with the DSCC-owned headquarters and the new property as collateral. The mortgage on the Mott House will appear as a debt on the DSCC’s May campaign-finance report, which will be filed on or about June 20.” http://bloom.bg/1hyp4or

‘BLOODLETTING’: A dramatic lede in this Hill story by Megan Wilson: “There will be 'bloodletting' at Patton Boggs before the mega-merger with Squire Sanders is completed, according to a former lawyer at the law and lobby giant.” That’s the opposite of what leadership said on a Tuesday conference call http://bit.ly/1rgCP4x

THE PATTON-SQUIRE MONEY MACHINE: The Patton Boggs-Squire merger creates a new power source of campaign contributions and lobbying, reports the Center for Responsive Politics.The two firms and their employees have given more than $13 million to federal candidates, party committees, leadership PACs and outside money group since 1989, according to an analysis. Patton accounted for most of that cash, which went mostly to Democrats. More here: http://bit.ly/1hypVp0

GET SMART FAST on electronic health records, telemedicine, health apps and federal health IT with POLITICO’s Morning eHealth newsletter. POLITICO Pro eHealth, launching June 3, will give you the latest policy developments from the intersection of health care and technology. Know what the #ProsKnow by signing up for the must-read tipsheet here: http://bit.ly/Qyu4lQ.

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